Contruction of the world's highest roads using migrant labor from India's poorest regions

NESTLED IN THE NORTHERNMOST FRONTIERS OF INDIA ARE SOME OF THE HIGHEST MOUNTAIN PASSES IN THE WORLD.

Ladakh lies in the midst of the high Himalayas and is accessed through a network of high altitude mountain roads. Temperatures here frequently run to sub-zero levels and the region is cut off from the rest of the world for more than seven months of the year, lying buried beneath several feet of snow.

Ladakh is a strategically important zone for India, it shares its borders with China in the north and south-east, and Pakistan in the west. These roads are used heavily by the military to ferry supplies to and from its numerous bases that are spread around the region. In recent years Ladakh has also become a tourist hot-spot, famed for it's magnificent mountain views, endless skylines and untouched natural beauty. The roads that lead into this remote mountain region are known to be some of the most extreme driving destinations on the planet.

Until the 1960s, mules were the only means of transport to get in and out of Ladakh. In the late 60s the first road between Srinagar and the capital city of Leh was built, and in 1985 the Indian Government set up project Himank - an organization dedicated to the construction and maintenance of road communications in Ladakh, under the Indian Army's civil road engineering department, Border Roads Organization (BRO), which operates a network of over 32,885 kilometres (20,434 mi) of roads. New roads are being built continuously as the State makes its way into remote territories and existing roads are in need of regular maintenance, as there is constant deterioration because of landslides and melting glaciers. Over the years the level of mechanization in the road construction process has slowly increased, however even today most the construction is done through manual labor to a large extent.

The building and maintenace of these treacherous roads is a constant battle with exhaustion, an exercise in endurance and a struggle that no man would take on by choice. The air is thin and oxygen levels are extremely low, making manual labour difficult and potentially hazardous. But it is not locals who toil on these roads. Men from some of the most economically disadvantaged districts of West Bengal, Bihar and Jharkhand undertake an arduous journey deep into the mountains to build roads that they will never use. More than 70.000 migrants workers travel ever year, from the eastern plains to altitudes of 12,000-18,000 ft above sea level, to join the BRO and undertake the construction and maintenance of the world’s highest roads.

In Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and other smaller states around the eastern plains of India, the climatic conditions combined with poor infrastructure makes year-round agricultural work unsustainable. The small number of non-agricultural jobs available cannot sustain the population of the region in the dry summer months. Successive welfare and employment generating schemes have ended up being mired in corruption and other controversies, forcing many to travel to far flung lands in search of employment, in a desperate bid to send money back home and provide for their large families. The largest percentage of these people find work in construction, usually in hazardous conditions or extreme environments, jobs that locals stay away from.

Migrant workers in Ladakh live in makeshift camps along the mountain ridges, often more than 40 people crowded into tents measuring approximately 10 square meters.These camps are constantly moving as the road they build advances forward.With temperatures regularly descending to sub-zero levels, the meagre canvas tents prove to be severely inadequate against the chilly Himalayan winds. Many workers are not provided with gear and clothing suitable for these conditions, and the lack of safety equipment and safety standards means that accidents are commonplace. Between 1987 and 2002, a fifteen year period, more than 119 workers have lost their lives and many more have been severely injured. Accident statistics for recent years is not accurate, however from visual evidence it seems that not much has changed in terms of safety and accident prevention.

A sizeable proportion of the migrant population in Ladakh is under-age. Minors are seen carrying heavy loads or engaged in intense manual labour, in what is perhaps one of the most under-reported child labour issues in the country,

Workers living in camps far removed from any human habitation have no means of recreation. Most often, they have to travel miles on foot to the next village to be able to call back home. At the end of their four months of contractual work, the best a seasoned worker can expect to earn is about 350 USD, at approximately 2.5 USD a day.

Forced to live away from their families, these men form a home away from home, taking care of each other in their newly-formed communities. The work is precarious and many perish along the way. The others keep moving along, often coming back year after year, continuing to do so until they find a means to earn closer to home

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Conceived and published as a collaborative project with Arko Datto
The project can be viewed at - Lighthouse Projects